Meehan’s goal throw fortunate Galway a late lifeline against Waterford

GALWAY 1-12 WATERFORD 0-14: Galway manager Alan Mulholland admitted he was relieved after Michael Meehan blasted home a late goal to stave off the shock of the summer at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.

Waterford turned a 0-10 to 0-7 interval deficit into a lead with six unanswered points when they had the wind in the second half of this All-Ireland SF qualifier but Meehan rescued the Tribesmen with a goal six minutes from the end.

“We are relieved, no doubt about it. We got the result we wanted, we definitely didn’t get the performance we had hoped. We managed to get out by a point, we are happy with that, we are in the pot for the next day,” said Mulholland.

Waterford manager Niall Carew said his men were devastated after recovering from a 26 -point drubbing by Kerry to come so close to dumping Galway out of the championship.

“We left it behind us. We were three points up midway through the second-half and we had two other chances and we missed them. You have to take them at this level and we rued them at the end. We are absolutely gutted,” he said.

Three points from Meehan in the opening six minutes with the wind suggested an easy Galway victory but with Paul Whyte outstanding for Waterford, they clawed their way back.

Whyte, in his fourth year as a senior even though he is only 21, shot 0-8 in an excellent exhibition with half of his tally coming from play.

Captain Gary Hurney also impressed in the third quarter as Waterford picked off some fine scores but a massive shock was prevented when Seán Armstrong set Meehan up for the decisive score.

GALWAY: Galway: M Breathnach; C Forde, F Hanley, J Duane; C Doherty, G O'Donnell, G Sice; P Conroy (0-4, 0-2 frees), G Higgins; J O'Brien; S Armstrong (0-1, free), M Farragher; D Cummins (0-1), M Meehan (1-5, 0-1 free), M Hehir. Subs: K Kelly for Forde (28 mins), M Martin for Hehir (45 mins), T Flynn for Higgins (49 mins), S Denvir for Doherty (52 mins), F O Curraion for O'Brien (60 mins).
WATERFORD: S Enright; N Walsh, T O'Gorman, M O'Gorman; C O'Keeffe, S Briggs, C Phelan; T Prendergast, S Ahearne; T Grey (0-1), G Hurney (0-2), A Doyle (0-2); B Wall (0-1), P Whyte (0-8, 0-3 frees, 0-1 45), L O Lionáin. Subs: R Ahearne for Wall (60 mins), D Allen for Prendergast (68 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).